RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as 3-AP and gemcitabine, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Giving more than one drug may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving 3-AP together with gemcitabine as second-line therapy works in treating patients with recurrent stage III or stage IV non-small cell lung cancer.

A Randomized Phase II Study Of Triapine® Alone Versus Triapine and Gemcitabine As Second-Line Treatment Of Advanced Non-Small-Cell-Lung Cancer In Patients Who Had Prior Gemcitabine With Evaluation Of The Effect Of Triapine® On Gemcitabine Pharmacokinetics and Cellular Uptake In Peripheral Mononuclear Cells

Determine the response duration, median time to progression, and overall survival of patients treated with this regimen.

Determine the toxicity of this regimen in these patients.

Determine the effect of 3-AP (Triapine®) on gemcitabine pharmacokinetics and cellular uptake into peripheral mononuclear cells in patients treated with this regimen.

OUTLINE: This is an open-label, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to participating center.

Patients receive 3-AP (Triapine®) IV over 4 hours and gemcitabine IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 8, and 15*. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

NOTE: *For course 1 only, gemcitabine is administered alone on day 1 and in combination with 3-AP (Triapine®) on days 8 and 15.

Patients are followed every 3 months for up to 2 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 15-31 patients will be accrued for this study within 7.5-21 months.

Squamous cell carcinoma NOTE: *A repeat biopsy of any accessible tumor site is required if > 5 years have elapsed since the initial diagnosis

Progressive disease after 1 prior gemcitabine-containing chemotherapy regimen for stage III or IV NSCLC and must have achieved, at least once, a partial response, complete response, or stable disease during therapy

Not a primary non-responder and experienced only progressive disease during gemcitabine-containing chemotherapy

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Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00077415